The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

by George Q. Cannon

Whereas it is reported that there now exists a band of desperadoes, bound by oaths of secrecy, under severe penalties in case any member of the combination divulges their plans of stealing and conveying properties from station to station, up and down the Mississippi and other routes: And

Whereas it is reported that the fear of the execution of the pains and penalties of their secret oath on their persons prevents some members of said secret association (who have, through falsehood and deceit, been drawn into their snares), from divulging the same to the legally-constituted authorities of the land:

Know ye, therefore, that I, Joseph Smith, Mayor of the City of Nauvoo, will grant and insure protection against all personal mob violence to each and every citizen of this city who will come before me and truly make known the names of all such abominable characters as are engaged in said secret combination for stealing, or are accessory thereto, in any manner. And I respectfully solicit the co-operation of all ministers of justice in this and the neighboring states to ferret out a band of thievish outlaws from our midst.

Joseph was determined to protect Nauvoo from plunderers without, and from thieves within, and this determination expressed in the document just quoted was so vigorously enforced that the bad elements, in self protection, combined against him. This league was one of the factors in the culminating persecutions of his life.

In the beginning of April the Prophet went to Ramus accompanied by Apostle Orson Hyde and William Clayton, to preach to the Saints there. Among many important utterances contained in his sermons of that time are these:

When the Savior shall appear, we shall see Him as He is. We shall see that He is a man like ourselves; and that same sociality which exists among us here will exist among us there, only it will be coupled with eternal glory, which glory we do not now enjoy. (John 14:2, 3.) The appearing of the Father and the Son, in that verse, is a personal appearance; and the idea that the Father and the Son dwell in a man's heart is an old sectarian notion, and is false.

In answer to the question, "Is not the reckoning of God's time, angel's time, prophet's time, and man's time according to the planet on which they reside?" I answer, yes. But there are no angels who minister to this earth but those who do belong or have belonged to it. The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; but they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest—past, present and future, and are continually before the Lord. The place where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim. This earth, in its sanctified and immortal state, will be made like unto crystal and will be a Urim and Thummim to the inhabitants who dwell thereon, whereby all things pertaining to an inferior kingdom, or all kingdoms of a lower order, will be manifest to those who dwell on it; and this earth will be Christ's. Then the white stone mentioned in Revelation 2:17, will become a Urim and Thummim to each individual who receives one, whereby things pertaining to a higher order of kingdoms, even all kingdoms, will be made known; and a white stone is given to each of those who come into the celestial kingdom, whereon is a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. The new name is the key word

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Whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection; and if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come. There is a law, irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world, upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.

The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also: but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us. A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him.

In May, while returning through Carthage from his mission to Ramus, Joseph dined with Stephen A. Douglas, who was there holding court. After dinner, the Prophet, at the request of Douglas, gave a minute history of the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The judge listened attentively and pronounced unstinted condemnation upon the conduct of Boggs and the other mobocrats of Missouri, and declared that they ought to be punished. Joseph concluded by saying that this wholesale plunder and extermination was a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of the Republic, the very thought of which would have caused the patriotic framers of the Constitution to hide their faces in sorrow and shame. He prophesied to Douglas:

Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States, and if you ever turn your hand against the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will be with you through life.

These words of the Prophet to Judge Douglas have been fulfilled to the very letter. Douglas did aspire to the presidency of the United States; he did use his influence against the Latter-day Saints thinking he could gain popularity by so doing; and he miserably failed. He was deserted by his own friends, and died a disappointed man.

Commencing on the first day of the fourteenth year of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a special conference was held on the floor of the temple at Nauvoo. In presenting the authorities of the Church, the Prophet asked the people if they were satisfied with the First Presidency. "If," said he, "I have done anything to injure my standing or dishonor our religion in the sight of angels, or men, or women, I am sorry for it. I do not know that I have done anything of the kind; but if I have, come forward and tell me of it."

Joseph wanted the Saints to feel that every officer of the Church, from the President down to the least in authority, was responsible to the body of the Saints, as well as to God, for his conduct; and thereby established a rule which was of great help at a later time.

Brigham Young made the motion to sustain Joseph Smith as President of the whole Church, and one vast sea of hands was presented, carrying the motion unanimously.